The invention relates to a vehicle seat, particularly a motor vehicle seat, the back rest of which has forwardly projecting side portions in the areas that support the shoulders of the person using the seat.
Where an air bag is available in addition to a seat belt system, and the air bag is inflated in front of the chest and hand of a seat user in the event of an accident, the seat user is protected to a large degree against frontal impact. If, in addition, the person using the seat is also laterally supported in the shoulder area by a vehicle seat of the type described above, then in many cases the upper torso of the seat user can be held in contact with the back rest. This fact, however, increases the chance that the movement of the head relative to the torso is great enough that the neck vertebrae are endangered.